Olympic bronze medallist Johannes Ludwig wins in tricky conditions

Sigulda Herren 2020

Sigulda (RWH) Germany’s Johannes Ludwig mastered the tricky weather conditions to celebrate his third singles victory in the Viessmann World Cup. The 2018 Olympic bronze medallist improved on his 21st position after the first run to take a shock win in an extremely humid and rain-soaked Sigulda, Latvia. In second place, just 17 thousandths of a second behind, was World Cup leader Roman Repilov (RUS), who also had to play catchup after finishing the first run in 22nd place. Third place was claimed by Olympic Champion David Gleirscher (AUT). Fourth went to European Champion Dominik Fischnaller of Italy.

As the last competitor on the first run, Felix Loch finished dead last in 30th place in deteriorating track conditions, and then made a mistake on his second run, on which he was the fifth starter, to end up 27th at the finish.

Roman Repilov has extended his lead on the overall standings and now has 621 points. Dominik Fischnaller (510) lies second ahead of Sprint World Champion Jonas Müller (437) from Austria, who finished 23rd in Sigulda. David Gleirscher moves up to fifth place on 399 points, behind former World Champion Semen Pavlichenko (424) from Russia and ahead of Felix Loch (367).

Round seven of the race series will be staged in Oberhof (GER) on the first weekend of February, having already visited Innsbruck (AUT), Lake Placid (USA), Whistler (CAN), Altenberg (GER), Lillehammer (NOR) and Sigulda (LAT).

Quotes

Johannes Ludwig (GER / Olympic bronze medallist 2018 and World Championship bronze medallist 2013)

“I can’t really get any pleasure from this win. Luck played a major role because the weather wasn’t great for luge. I was unlucky with the weather on my first run, but my second attempt was really good. And ultimately I got even luckier because of the track conditions.”

David Gleirscher (AUT / Olympic Champion in 2018, Olympic bronze medallist in team relay)

“It’s always great to finish on the podium. I had more to give – the second run was not perfect. The speed is there, which makes me feel very positive going into the next race. The track behaves differently in the bad weather.”

Roman Repilov (RUS / overall winner Viessmann Luge World Cup 2016/17, World Championship silver medallist 2017, World Championship sprint silver medallist in 2017, European Championship runner-up 2016 and 2019)

“We had a plan and it actually went pretty well as we were just 17 thousandths of a second behind. But that was due to the bad weather. It’s important that I’m leading the World Cup. I am still motivated enough to win the overall classification.”